Clemente photo exhibit from Puerto Rico makes its PNC Park debut

Roberto Clemente was strikingly handsome, and he exuded uncommon grace on and off the field. That combination made him extremely photogenic.

Evidence of that was in abundance on Tuesday afternoon outside PNC Park, where the Pirates, members of the Clemente family and Puerto Rico-based GFR Media unveiled a collection of exquisite photographs of the Hall of Fame outfielder. The exhibit -- known as “3,000” -- was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Clemente’s historic 3,000th career hit, which he collected on Sept. 30, 1972, at Three Rivers Stadium. It debuted last year in San Juan before audiences that totaled more than 120,000.

“We think the exhibit will be just as popular here since Roberto played for the Pirates for so many years and made Pittsburgh his second home,” said Maria Eugenia Ferré Rangel, chairwoman of the board of directors at GFR Media. “I think people here will enjoy seeing Roberto from the Puerto Rican lens.

“You could see kindness in Roberto’s face. That was why he was so photogenic. You could see his sense of peace. That’s why the camera loved him. You don’t see one picture of Roberto Clemente that’s not a good picture. He conducted himself in a dignified manner all the time, and that shows in these pictures.”

The images, many of which have never been published, are the work of photojournalist Luis Ramos. The exhibit was curated by Dennis Rivera Pichardo, director of photography for El Nuevo Día, Puerto Rico’s leading newspaper, which is owned by GFR Media. The collection is displayed across a large installation designed to reveal the number 3,000 when seen from a distance. It spans nearly 150 feet and includes 10 bright yellow modules that weigh approximately 400 pounds each.

The exhibit was loaded into a container that featured Clemente’s likeness, and it traveled on a vessel from San Juan to Philadelphia, before being trucked from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. It will be on display at PNC Park between the statues of Clemente and Willie Stargell through the end of the Pirates’ current homestand on Sunday vs. the New York Yankees.

“The exhibit is such a fantastic reminder of the legacy of Roberto Clemente,” Pirates chairman Bob Nutting said. “It’s an opportunity for us to remember how great ‘The Great One’ was both as a baseball player and a humanitarian. Being able to bring this exhibit here, and being able to share it with Pittsburgh fans, I hope people come out to look at the pictures and let the pictures touch their hearts.”

So how is it that so many of these photos from the El Nuevo Día archives went unpublished for so many years?

“Photographers took thousands of pictures of Clemente and maybe there was only one chosen that would make the front page or one that would make the sports section on a particular day, so there were tons of pictures that were never seen,” Ferré Rangel said. “The 50th anniversary of Clemente’s 3,000th hit made us stop and say, ‘We probably have a huge amount of pictures that have never been seen before. The fact that the photographer was still alive also helped us in the process of going back and looking at those pictures and remembering what was happening at that moment in time. The historical value of pictures such as these is beyond measure.”

Included are images of Clemente before, during and after the Pirates’ game against the New York Mets on Sept. 30, 1972, when he doubled off Jon Matlack for his 3,000th -- and final -- regular-season hit. There are pictures of Clemente with teammates, pictures with his wife, Vera, and their three young sons, and pictures of pensive moments that he spent alone.

The exhibit also features the emotion of the loss of Clemente, who died in an airplane crash on New Year’s Eve in 1972 while attempting to transport relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. There are dramatic shots of U.S. Coast Guard and emergency personnel searching for Clemente off the coast of Puerto Rico, and images of the solemn memorial service that took place at Hiram Bithorn Stadium on Jan. 14, 1973.

But primarily, the exhibit celebrates the life and legacy of one of baseball’s all-time greats -- and a man who will forever be a legend in Pittsburgh.

“I’ve known Maria for a long time, and so I knew they were going to do this exhibit really well,” Nutting said. “They have a great family of journalists, and they take their responsibility very seriously. They displayed the exhibit much of last winter in Puerto Rico and were willing to bring it up and share it with Pittsburgh. So, we knew that we wanted to say, ‘yes,’ and we also wanted to say, ‘thank you.’”

“It’s unbelievable, the amount of images in this exhibit that we’ve never seen,” Roberto Clemente Jr. said. “They’re new even to me, and there are many, many more that I can’t wait to go and see because I know that the El Nuevo Día vault is quite large. We may just be scratching the surface here.”